


Belief and Betrayal

by JCMorrigan



Category: Dangan Ronpa - All Media Types, New Dangan Ronpa V3: Everyone's New Semester of Killing, Super Dangan Ronpa 2
Genre: AU in which NDRV3 and SDR2 take place at the same time in the same world, Gen, Short Story
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-19
Updated: 2018-05-19
Packaged: 2019-05-08 21:17:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,077
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14702502
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JCMorrigan/pseuds/JCMorrigan
Summary: An AU where DanganRonpa V3 takes place in the same world and time period as DanganRonpa 1+2, and all the casts are the same age.Kaito Momota reflects to Shuichi Saihara upon the one time he let a friend down.(I wasn't going to upload this to AO3 because it's short, but my friends talked me into it.)





	Belief and Betrayal

It seemed the usual routine. Kaito had suggested he and Shuichi do another round of push-ups, two hundred this time, though Kaito seemed to have stopped somewhere around sixty and hoped Shuichi wouldn’t notice. The crisp night air cooled the sweat on their skin; Shuichi reached the set goal and found himself too tired to do anything but fall to the ground, roll onto his back, and look up at the top of the cage that kept them all locked inside the Ultimate Academy’s grounds.

A rustling informed Shuichi that Kaito had taken the same position near him. “Nothing like a good training session to sweat out all your problems,” he sighed happily.

“Yeah,” Shuichi agreed hesitantly.

“All right, what is it?” Kaito asked accusatorily.

“What?” Shuichi replied. “I didn’t - “  
  
“Something’s wrong, Shuichi. I can tell. So stop trying to hide it.”

“Well, it’s nothing new,” Shuichi admitted. “It’s…Kaede. I know I should be over it, but I can’t stop thinking about how…I killed her. I figured out the evidence that sent her to her own execution. And no matter how many times I think about it…I know I wouldn’t have wanted everyone else to die. I wouldn’t have wanted YOU to die. But I just…I feel like I betrayed her.” He sighed. “I know what you’re about to tell me. That I need more training, that it wasn’t my fault, that I need to look forward. It’s just…not gone from my mind yet. And I don’t know how much longer it’ll take.”

“Well, however long it takes, I’m right here, cheering you on,” Kaito promised. “I’m gonna make sure you figure it out! I’ve got it all planned!”

“Thanks, Kaito,” Shuichi said with a slight smile. “I’m glad I could talk to you about all of this.” His brow furrowed as a question occurred to him that he had never thought to ask. “Kaito…have you ever felt like you let someone down?”

“Let someone down?” Kaito repeated. “Of course not! I believe in all my friends, and I pass that belief onto them! I always give ‘em my best! And that’s the - “

A sudden silence, the kind that signaled a revelation about to come.

“Well…” Kaito admitted, “that might not be the whole truth. There might be…one person I let down.”

“We don’t have to talk about it if - “

“Nah,” Kaito dismissed. “I’m fine telling you. If a man can’t be honest with his friends about his past, then what kind of man is he?” He took a moment to gather his thoughts. “See, I always thought that if you got betrayed, it was your fault for putting your belief in the wrong person. I still think that. But just that one time…I kinda fucked up. Somebody really believed in me, and I screwed him over. It…might not be his fault as much as it is mine. But I never did it again, you hear?”

Shuichi knew this story was of a completely different caliber than Kaito’s tales about battling rivals on the high seas. This was honesty, and about a matter Kaito didn’t like to touch.

“I had this friend,” Kaito explained. “We were real close in high school. He loved messing with cars and stuff, and we worked out an agreement. He was going to build the rocket ship I’d go up into space in. We talked about it all the time. We talked about a lot of things, actually, though I was usually the one leading the conversation. The guy was a bit of a wallflower. I kept trying to get him to be more confident, to open up, to get out there, ask out the girl he liked, but he was pretty scared. Kind of like you were at the beginning.

“Anyway, I wasn’t scared of anything. Or so I thought. But then there was this exam, and it was one of those tests with a lot riding on it, and I just…didn’t feel confident about it that time. So I…well…I copied my friend’s answers. And we got busted. He took the fall right away so I wouldn’t get in trouble.”

“That was nice of him,” Shuichi commented.

“Too nice,” Kaito agreed. “I just ended up feeling so bad about the whole thing, and I got so guilty whenever I looked at him, I just sorta…stopped talking to him.”

“You WHAT?”

“I know, I know!” Kaito sighed. “That is so not like me. I promised myself I’d never do it again, okay? But I just thought…maybe, if I was gonna betray him like that all along, he shouldn’t have believed in me in the first place. Maybe we didn’t go together as much as I thought. So I left him behind. And then, the next thing you know…I’m here.”

Silence reigned once again as Shuichi tried to figure out what to say. The tale hadn’t lessened his respect - no, his liking for Kaito. If anything, he pitied Kaito for having to lose a friend due to his rash actions. 

“I wonder where he is now,” Kaito continued. “You think he ever got more confident? I worry about him, if he didn’t have me to help him. Then again, maybe he became a whole different person since then. It was a while ago. What if I wouldn’t even recognize him? I still hope he’s happy. When I think about him, I like to imagine him…on the beach. Taking in the sun, eating right out of a coconut and hanging with some good friends. Maybe even a girl he likes.”

The question that came from Shuichi’s mouth was one he realized might not have been the most tactful until it was fully spoken: “Kaito…if we get out of here…do you think you’ll look for him?”

“Hell yeah!” Kaito said with sudden renewed vigor. “But it’s not ‘if,’ Shuichi. It’s ‘when’! When we get out of here…I’m gonna find Kazuichi, and I’m gonna make everything right.”

He sat up suddenly. “What are we slacking off for?” he laughed. “Come on, Shuichi! We’ve got more push-ups to do!”

“You still have to finish your first set,” Shuichi said with a smirk.

He hoped Kaito could make good on his promise. Having known firsthand what it was like to have Kaito as a friend, he could only wish this “Kazuichi” would be able to enjoy that friendship again.


End file.
